Former Australia fast bowler Mitchell Johnson and former England batter Kevin Pietersen were about to endorse hooliganism in Cardiff back in the day. Two fierce rivals in their respective fields, Johnson and Pietersen would’ve surely crossed some lines had former Australia pacer Stuart Clark had not interrupted them.
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It all happened on one of the mornings of the first Ashes 2009 Test at Sophia Gardens – a venue was not considered fitting enough to hold an Ashes opener as per the legendary Shane Warne.
Both England and Australia are arch-rivals. If both Johnson and Pietersen would have engaged in a physical fight, it could have been a perfect build-up for an Ashes even at the cost of not appearing to be sportsmanlike.
When Mitchell Johnson And Kevin Pietersen Were About To Hit Each Other
Pietersen, who is known to get under the skin of the opposition, was continuously pulling the ball towards the Australian players in order to annoy them. Johnson believed that the ball could have injured the Australian bowlers. Hence, he threw a ball towards Pietersen gesturing him to stop.
Pietersen did the same again and this time Johnson kicked the ball in anger. Words were exchanged and Johnson stormed towards Pietersen with the intention of hitting him. Clark saw everything and he came in between to prevent a possible physical altercation.
In his autobiography titled Resilient, Johnson narrated the whole incident while adding that family issues before the series also played a part in the soaring of tempers. He revealed that before previous Ashes at home, he fought a professional cage fighter and was successful in hitting a few punches.
“During the boot camp ahead of the 2006–07 Ashes series we had to get in the ring with a professional cage fighter. He was a scary bloke and I landed a couple of good hits. Hardly anyone else touched him. If KP [Kevin Pietersen] and I had gone toe to toe, life might have taken another strange twist.”
The on-field rivalry between them was also brilliant to watch for the spectators. In 207 balls, Pietersen managed to score 113 runs with the help of 11 boundaries. He got dismissed four times in the process.
Johnson Reckons Pietersen Crossed The Line By Commenting On Family
Johnson mentioned that Pietersen crossed the line by commenting on his family. Both Johnson and Pietersen had a friendly conversation off the field, but the pacer was not that impressed with the right-handed batter because of his actions.
“You can’t bring family or stuff like that into it and I am sure he knew he had gone too far, but he did it on purpose because he wanted to get me going.”
Johnson moved to Perth with his then-girlfriend Jessica Bratich, and his mother, Vicky Harber was not happy about it. Harber gave a public interview where he criticized Johnson. The media also posted a lot of stuff related to Johnson and his mother which was disturbing for the left-arm pacer.
